New 2024 Kawasaki Electric Ninja E-1 & Z E-1 Announced!

Welcome back everybody to another MotorBob video and this week Kawasaki announced two very interesting looking new motorcycles in the form of their electric Ninja E1 and ZE1. So could these brand new machines for the 2024 model year mark a turning point where we really start to move over to electrics? Or are they still too far ahead of the curve? Well in this video we'll go through all the details to find out. Now first up, look, these aren't the most powerful electric bikes that we've seen on the market so far. Kawasaki are saying that they're more so an equivalent for a 125 and so from the electric motor you'll get about 5kW which is just about 7hp and in fact that's significantly down on the 15hp that you'll get from one of their 125cc petrol bikes. There is, however, an e-boost mode that pushes peak power up to 9kW so more like 12hp but it will only engage for 15 seconds and then it needs a bit of time to replenish itself. This feature does, though, allow the bike up to a maximum speed of about 60mph but it's so short-lived that really it's more like an overtaking assist than something that you can just leave on. Where electric bikes do typically excel, though, is with torque and these bikes make a handy 40.5Nm right down low in the rev range between 0 and 1600rpm. That's well above the petrol equivalent so the Ninja 125, for example, that makes 11Nm at 7700rpm so you do have to get it spinning up a bit. I think we can safely say that these two bikes, despite the sort of sporty appearances, are specifically designed for the urban environment and commutes as opposed to something like the Harley Livewire which does try to emulate the all-rounder capabilities of something like a middleweight naked bike. So think in that context, the punchiness of that torque down low will be valuable in terms of getting away from the traffic lights and getting ahead of the other vehicles. The other thing that looks pretty good here as well is the weight. So often full-sized electric motorcycles can be a little bit plump because of the denseness of the batteries but because this bike has a range that suited more to town riding, it doesn't really seem to suffer the same weight penalty. So the ZE1 Naked, for example, comes in at 135kg ready to ride which is a good 12kg less than the equivalent Z125. The Ninja E1, well, that's a little bit heavier, of course, because of the extra bodywork with the fairings but that's still only 140kg and that's still 8kg less than a Ninja 125. So again, this slenderness should help with getting off the line quickly but also it should make the bikes easy to thread through traffic which in my experience of commuting through London for many years, you know, that's what really counts when it comes to cutting down on your journey time. Like I say, range isn't massive on these bikes. They're claiming about 72km or 44 miles but if you do consider the bike's sole purpose to be purely for riding in the city, then actually that should be enough to get to work and back without having to charge up. London, for example, of course, is our biggest city and to ride from right on the outskirts at like the M25 right into the middle of Oxford Circus, well, that's just under 20 miles. It'd be a 40-mile round trip and that would be quite an extreme example. I think most people would be doing less in a day. The only thing I'd be cautious of is those official range figures, you know, you tend to have to ride very conservatively to hit them. Now, the battery layout is actually quite interesting here because they've decided to split it into two and that makes it easier to remove from the bike so you can charge them at home. To be honest, I think this is a really important feature because actually not many people in the city are lucky enough to have a driveway or a garage. Most people live in flats or apartments and so you have to leave the bike out on the street and I don't think it's really practical to run a cable over the pavement without anyone suing you or at very least pulling it out. So to me, carrying the batteries indoor and sticking them in the dedicated dock seems like a much better option. Now, each one weighs 11.5 kilograms, so much more easily portable for a wide range of people than if they'd have used one big 23-kilogram battery, especially if you've got to go up a few flights of stairs. Kawasaki claim three and a quarter hours to charge each battery, which I've got to say isn't particularly fast, but then most people are at home in the evening for more than that or in the office in the day for more than that and so either should provide ample opportunity to get a full charge. As for the chassis spec, well, it looks pretty basic as you'd expect from a bike that's a sort of 125cc stature. So there's the typical Kawasaki steel trellis frame, some simple right way up forks and a monoshock at the rear. You've got 17-inch wheels at both ends and a two-pot brake up front with a single disc and then it's got to be said some fairly slender looking tires, although to be fair, it's not exactly laying down MotoGP levels of power. So I'd expect this bike to be decent enough in terms of the handling. After all, Kawasaki got plenty of experience in this department, but the running gear does look like it's built down to a price. Now ergonomically, this is a relatively small bike with a standard seat height of 785 millimeters, but that makes total sense for a city bike where you do want to get both your feet down easily as you waddle through traffic and it should also help to broaden the appeal out to newer or less experienced riders. There is though the option to fit a 30 millimeter higher ErgoFit accessory seat. So that takes it up to a much more familiar 815 millimeters if you're used to riding bigger bikes. And so for me that looks like a nice option if you're on the taller side or if you just want to make it feel a bit more tail up and sporty. Now naturally with the two styles of bike, one being the sporty fared Ninja and one being the flat bar naked in the Zed, you've got a couple of choices of handlebar position with the Ninja being a little bit lower and narrower. Really though, considering it's a city bike, I'd expect it to sell more units based on the name and the looks and having a bit of that more exciting image because from a practical perspective, clearly being sat more upright in town traffic makes the Zed look like a much more logical purchase. Now from a technology perspective, you've got a couple of riding modes. So road and eco as well as that fleeting e-boost button that I just mentioned and there's also a forward and backward walking mode which they say makes it easier to park the bike in tight spots, especially if you've got to back it uphill. Then you've got a TFT dash with a little bit of phone connectivity and so although it's not the latest and greatest in terms of lean sensitive high-tech rider aids, it does seem appropriately spec'd for this level of bike. So I think all round it does look pretty decent and well designed for a specific purpose but yet again with electric bikes, the sticking point is probably going to be the price. A petrol power Z125 for example will cost you less than five grand but these two are almost up at 8,000 pounds. Now that things have certainly progressed from the days when you were looking at like almost 20 grand for an electric bike a few years ago but still that's a heck of a premium over a petrol bike and there are still some inferiorities in terms of range and power. That said, it is still exciting to see a major manufacturer start to move into this area and hopefully they'll keep getting better and better but for now, I'd love to know what you think of it. So do let me know down in the comments below. If you're new here and you want to see more of the latest motorcycle news like this right here on YouTube, then please do hit subscribe. Many thanks for watching today and we'll see you in the next one.